New document peeks into Madoff's 'house of cards'

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published 11:31 pm, Friday, October 5, 2012

Photo: Jason DeCrow

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FILE - In this Dec. 17, 2008 file photo, Bernard Madoff returns to his Manhattan apartment after making a court appearance in New York. In December 2008, two of Bernard Madoff's most loyal employees met on a Manhattan street corner and fretted over a closely held secret that the rest of the world would learn about eight days later: that their boss, Madoff, was a con man for the ages. The exchange was recounted for the first time in a newly rewritten indictment this week expanding the case and charges against five defendants headed for a trial next year. The indictment brings into sharper focus the final few years of a fraud the government says dated to at least the early 1970s, two decades before Madoff claimed it began and well before 1992, when the government said in its original case against the defendants that the conspiracy began. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File) less

FILE - In this Dec. 17, 2008 file photo, Bernard Madoff returns to his Manhattan apartment after making a court appearance in New York. In December 2008, two of Bernard Madoff's most loyal employees met on a ... more

Photo: Jason DeCrow

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FILE - In this March 10, 2009 file photo, Bernard Madoff exits Manhattan federal court in New York. The trustee recovering money for Bernard Madoff's burned investors has reached a settlement with the estate of a Florida philanthropist and businessman who made billions of dollars off the fraud. Court-appointed trustee Irving Picard planned an announcement Friday in Manhattan about the estate of Jeffry Picower, who drowned after suffering a heart attack in the swimming pool of his Palm Beach, Fla., mansion on Oct. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Louis Lanzano, file) less

FILE - In this March 10, 2009 file photo, Bernard Madoff exits Manhattan federal court in New York. The trustee recovering money for Bernard Madoff's burned investors has reached a settlement with the estate ... more

Photo: Louis Lanzano

New document peeks into Madoff's 'house of cards'

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NEW YORK - In December 2008, two of Bernard Madoff's most loyal employees met on a Manhattan street corner and fretted over a closely held secret that the rest of the world would learn about eight days later: that their boss was a con man for the ages.

Frank DiPascali told JoAnn Crupi that Madoff, 74, had just confided that his investment firm was out of money and that client accounts - worth billions on paper - actually had no more value than Monopoly money, authorities say.

The pair then is alleged to have cooked up a cover story that quickly collapsed under the weight of the largest Ponzi scheme in history - one authorities say cost investors an estimated $17.3 billion.

The exchange was recounted for the first time in a rewritten indictment last week expanding the case and charges against five defendants headed for a trial next year.

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The indictment brings into sharper focus the final few years of a fraud that the government says dated to at least the early 1970s, two decades before Madoff claimed it began and well before 1992, when the government said in its original case against the defendants that the conspiracy began.

It portrays a private investment business in Manhattan where as many as a dozen officers grew a fraud so sophisticated that repeated probes by the Securities and Exchange Commission and queries from banks and investors could draw no blood. All the while, it says, they rewarded themselves with millions of dollars, sometimes tax-free or with taxes greatly reduced by fake losses generated by made-up securities trades.

Those facing a criminal trial next year are Annette Bongiorno, 64, Madoff's longtime secretary and a supervisor in his private investment business; Daniel Bonventre, 65, his director of operations for investments; Crupi, 51, who managed accounts; and two computer programmers, Jerome O'Hara, 49, and George Perez, 46. All have pleaded not guilty.

Filling in the blanks

Besides Madoff, who is serving a 150-year prison sentence, six others have pleaded guilty in the case, including a brother who served as his chief compliance officer; former finance chief DiPascali; a payroll manager; an accountant; a comptroller; and a securities trader.

The new account fills in information prosecutors learned as they built their case with help from several cooperators, including DiPascali.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said when the new indictment was released last week that with the new charges, "the architecture of Madoff's house of cards and each defendant's alleged role in it becomes clearer."

Mary Galligan, the head of the FBI's New York office, said the government has known for years that the Ponzi scheme was not the work only of Madoff, who pleaded guilty to fraud and insisted he acted alone.